Petrino, Bielema pit 3-5 vs. 3-5

Arkansas coach Bret Bielema walks the field prior to an Oct. 19, 2013 game against Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Rebuilding in the cutthroat world of SEC football is a brutal task.

Rebuilding at Arkansas, while transitioning from Bobby Petrino’s system that revolved around quarterback production and talented pass catchers to Bret Bielema’s run-heavy, power-laden schemes, adds another layer of difficulty.

Rebuilding becomes even more arduous when another reality sets in, that Bielema and his staff inherited a roster damaged by uncommonly high personnel losses and recruiting misses over the past few years.

“It’s going to be probably three years, I would imagine maybe Alex Collins’ junior year, before they’re even thinking about being in the Top 25, just because the rest of the league is so tough,” CBSSports.com writer Bruce Feldman said recently at the Northwest Arkansas Touchdown Club. “I mean, who’s going to be bad in that division?”

Bielema has a faster timetable for contending in the rugged SEC West.

He promised his seniors during the off-season that he wasn’t coming in with a two- or three-year plan for contending in the SEC. That goal is gone for this season with the Razorbacks (3-5, 0-4 SEC) riding a five-game losing streak heading into Saturday’s on-campus finale against Auburn.

But Bielema remains optimistic his staff’s recruiting plan and its game-day schemes can put Arkansas back in the national conversation soon.

“I know what the plan is,” he said. “I know how to get there. It takes a little bit of time.”

The Razorbacks are battling to stay competitive in a conference that has produced the past seven BCS champions, and they’re doing it with less talent than their top rivals.

“Nobody said this was going to be an overnight turnaround just because a new staff walked in the door,” defensive coordinator Chris Ash said.

Arkansas has signed two players deemed five-star talent by Scout.com - lineman Brey Cook and the tailback Collins - and 14 players rated as four-stars in its past four classes, with Collins a product of Bielema’s first class.

By comparison, two-time defending BCS champion Alabama signed six five-star players and 12 four-star players in the 2013 class alone. In the past four classes, the Crimson Tide signed 14 five-stars and 53 four-stars.

Auburn gained eight five star players and 43 four-stars in the same four-year period; LSU had five five-stars and 47 four-stars; Texas A&M signed three five-stars and 27 fourstars. Ole Miss, in its second year under Hugh Freeze, landed four five-star players and eight four-star players in its last recruiting class.

Asked recently if he inherited a talent shortfall, Bielema replied “I’m never going to say that.”

“I appreciate what you’re saying, but your talent is your talent,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how it happened or what happened.”

Bielema likes the young talent he and his staff will be building around, players like offensive linemen Denver Kirkland and Dan Skipper, tight end Hunter Henry, Collins, redshirt freshmen defenders like Darius Philon, Brandon Lewis and Deatrich Wise, to name a few. On Wednesday, he displayed a brochure created by his recruiting staff that featured 18 players who are redshirt freshmen or true freshmen making an impact for the Hogs.

Bielema said the brochure that invites prospects to join in with Arkansas’ “Greatness is happening” plan will be a big part of the staff’s recruiting pitch.

TAKING HITS

Attrition in all its forms - transfers, dismissals, injuries - impacts every college football program.

Arkansas seems to have had more than its share in recent years.

The 25-man 2010 signing class, rated No. 35 by Scout. com, was hit particularly hard. Nine players - either true seniors or redshirt juniors - from that class are on the two-deep roster with eight starting, including long-time contributors Eric Bennett, Zach Hocker and Byran Jones.But the class has been ravaged by attrition and tragedy. Two didn’t qualify, 11 more left the program for various reasons and another, tight end Garrett Uekman, died of an undetected heart defect in his dorm room less than 24 hours after a late-season victory over Mississippi State.

That occurred at the apex of the Bobby Petrino regime, which included a No. 3 ranking in the BCS standings and a 10-1 record prior to a 41-17 loss at No. 1 LSU.

Arkansas’ 2011 signing class, the current juniors and redshirt sophomores, has already lost 10 players through transfers, dismissals, eligibility or medical issues. The class has produced five current starters and 11 players in the two-deep, not counting defensive tackle Robert Thomas, who is lost for the season with a broken leg.

Even as Petrino’s 2010 and 2011 teams were establishing themselves as frequent top-10 members while racking up 21 victories, there were indications that staying in the upper echelon of the SEC would be difficult.

Petrino had trouble attracting big-time defensive talent. He maintained an aloof demeanor with many players from his first days on campus. Former center Jonathan Luigs, a Rimington Award winner in 2007 as a junior, recently told members of the Little Rock Touchdown Club that Petrino was not a great leader of men.

Taking over in the wake of Petrino’s departure - after the 4-8 flop of interim Coach John L. Smith - comes with its own set of problems, one college football insider claims.

“When he [Petrino] comes in, he’s such a fantastic coach, but I don’t think he’s the greatest people person,” said Dari Nowkhah of ESPNU. “I don’t want to knock his coaching at all, but there is a culture - and it’s a cliche too - but you have to completely re-establish a culture. You have to change a culture.

“So now you’re dealing with that from a personnel standpoint. You’re dealing with that from kind of a feelgood standpoint within a program. He leaves and he takes his offensive mind with him, and now you’re left with - in many cases I think, and it’s kind of been borne out - a mess of a roster.”

Nowkhah, from Tulsa, said he is good friends with Steve Kragthorpe, the former Tulsa coach who took over at Louisville after Petrino in 2007 and immediately began having problems with player discipline.

Petrino’s system created stars out of wide receivers like Joe Adams, Jarius Wright, Greg Childs and Cobi Hamilton, but many wideouts didn’t stick around long, a list that includes Quinta Funderburk, a four-star recruit, and Kane Whitehurst, whose arrest on drug charges came early in the morning on the day of Petrino’s wreck on his Harley-Davidson that eventually led to his dismissal.

FIVE YEARS LATER

Petrino’s first Razorbacks team struggled to a 5-7 record in 2008, and Arkansas fans might draw parallels between that team and Bielema’s first team.

The 2008 club, which lost three running backs - Darren McFadden, Felix Jones and Peyton Hillis - to the NFL Draft, was not deep or overly talented on defense. But it managed a 25-22 victory at No. 20 Auburn and finished the season with a 31-30 upset over LSU.

That team also endured three humiliating losses - 49-14 to No. 9 Alabama, 52-10 at No. 7 Texas and 38-7 to No. 12 and eventual national champion Florida - on consecutive weekends early in the season.

Those setbacks have been echoed in the past three weeks by Bielema’s Hogs who, following a spirited effort in a 45-33 loss to No. 10 Texas A&M, have lost 30-10 at No. 18 Florida, 52-7 to No. 14 South Carolina and 52-0 at No. 1 Alabama.

The Razorbacks had never before allowed 50-plus points in back-to-back games until Bielema’s Hogs lost by a combined 97 points, the most in school history.

Petrino walked into a fortuitous in-state recruiting class, held together largely by carryover assistant coach Tim Horton and the players themselves. Players such as Adams, Childs, Wright, Jerry Franklin, Chris Gragg, Dennis Johnson, Tyler Wilson and DeAnthony Curtis formed the nucleus of Petrino’s glory years, along with transfer quarterback Ryan Mallett.

Petrino played 16 true freshmen in his first season; Bielema has played eight.

The Razorbacks also recruited well in 2009 with a class rated No. 14 by Scout.com. But major attrition impacted that class and the ones to follow. The only players remaining from that class, who are now fifth-year seniors, are the veteran center Swanson, tight end Austin Tate, former walk-on lineman David Hurd and linebacker Jerry Mitchell.

Petrino’s 2008 team rebounded from its three-game losing streak by winning that game at Auburn, but that was a Tigers team tumbling in Tommy Tuberville’s final season, the week after first-year offensive coordinator Tony Franklin had been dismissed. Bielema’s team has a chance to begin rebounding when No. 11 Auburn, surging in its first season under Coach Gus Malzahn, comes to campus this weekend.

Arkansas fans knew better days were ahead under Petrino, with transfer quarterback Ryan Mallett waiting in the wings to operate Petrino’s proven schemes. That proved to be the case, with two bowl victories in the next three seasons and the Razorbacks’ first Bowl Championship Series appearance.

A big difference between Petrino’s first season and Bielema’s debut is at quarterback. Petrino had a veteran in senior Casey Dick, who had started the entire 2007 season and parts of 2006, while Bielema’s signal-caller is redshirt sophomore Brandon Allen, who had one ill-fated start against No. 1 Alabama before this season.

Bielema promotes his staff’s recruiting abilities as the reason to believe good days lie ahead.

“Hey, at other places when things are in a difficult road, you get sharks in the water and everybody smells blood, and we’re going to have our opponents coming after our kids, our kids that are committed to us,” Bielema said. “That’s when you really rely on hopefully you’ve recruited the right type of kid, a kid that wants to be a Razorback for all the right reasons. He’s the kid that you hopefully get here next Saturday and he sees a crowd that’s going to support the Hogs no matter what.

“That’s the part that you really sell.”Humbling starts

Comparing Arkansas’ first eight games in 2008, Bobby Petrino’s first season as the Razorbacks’ head coach, with the first eight games of 2013, Bret Bielema’s first season:2008 (3-5) Aug. 30 Western Illinois W, 28-24 Sept. 06 Louisiana-Monroe W, 28-27 Sept. 20 Alabama L, 14-49 Sept. 27 Texas L,52-10 Oct. 04 Florida L, 38-7 Oct. 11 Auburn W, 25-22 Oct. 18 Kentucky L, 21-20 Oct. 25 Mississippi L, 23-212013 (3-5) Aug. 31 La.-Lafayette W, 34-14 Sept. 7 Samford W, 31-21 Sept. 14 So. Mississippi W, 24-3 Sept. 21 Rutgers L, 28-24 Sept. 28 Texas A&M L, 45-33 Oct. 5 Florida L, 30-10 Oct. 12 South Carolina L, 52-7 Oct. 19 Alabama L, 52-0SEC game2009 NO. (act.) ST./2-DP DNS/TRAN./DISM. ATTRITION 31 (4) 2/3 4/9/1 14 of 31, 45% CLASS RANK No. 15 by Tom Lemming of CBS College Sports, No. 15 by Rivals.com, No. 19 by Scout.com, No. 18 by ESPN LEMMING (now) “If you were to rank them after the senior year you would probably rank them somewhere around 15 to 25, so it was a pretty good class. It was a very athletic class. I think it was the first year in taking the step towards becoming more national. More importantly than how the class came out was the fact they started laying groundwork that Arkansas being in the Southeast Conference could recruit nationally.”2010 NO. (act.) ST./2-DP DNS/TRAN./DISM. ATTRITION 25 (10) 8/9 2/9/2 13 of 25, 52% CLASS RANK No. 20 by Lemming, 36 by Scout, 48 by rivals LEMMING (now) Commenting on lack of contributors: “Sometimes you just don’t know about the chemistry until they get there, but it had to be overrated if that’s all that was part of that class.”2011 NO. (act.) ST./2-DP* DNS/TRAN./DISM. ATTRITION 31 (19) 6/12 1/6/3 10 of 31, 32% CLASS RANK No. 21 by Lemming.

LEMMING (now) “They lost some big name in-state recruits. I always felt the key for Arkansas football was landing every in-state guy and then spreading out to North Texas all the way down to Florida. The classes were good, but not as good as we thought they would be. They were athletic guys, but a lot of them never did anything on the field.”2012 NO. (act.) ST./2-DP DNS/TRAN./DISM. ATTRITION 24 (20) 4/9 1/3/1 5 of 24, 20% CLASS RANK Lemming did not rank this class in his top 25 LEMMING (now) About Petrino not being able to get big-name, out-of-state recruits: “That was his downfall. Look at Jameis Winston at Florida State. He came from Alabama. A lot of guys come from different states. I don’t think he was great recruiter himself.”PETRINO CLASSES NO. (act.) ST./2-DP DNS/TRAN./DISM. ATTRITION 111 (53) 20/33 8/27/7 (42 of 111, 34.2%) NOTE Colby Berna (2010), Jeremiah Jackson (2011) and Brett Weir (2012) all retired because of medical issues but are counted in the transferred/dismissed category. Robert Thomas (2011) and Will Hines (2012) are counted as starters even though both are out for the season with injuries.

*Players still contributing in 2013LEMMING’S COMMENTS ON ATTRITION “Everyone does. There’s usually anywhere from four to eight guys leaving in every class. They’re unhappy about not playing or injuries or academics, off-the-field problems.” ON BIELEMA’S RECRUITING “When he was at Iowa he was one of their better recruiters. Barry Alvarez always told me he was always one of Barry’s better recruiters. So, yes, he can do it, and I think he will. Just have to give him time. … It’s growing pains; Bielema knows now what he needs to do. It’s no longer the Big Ten, he’s in the No. 1 conference in the country. Arkansas has to expand (nationally).”

Sports, Pages 22 on 10/27/2013